Heading for a blog primary
: I have new competition in my bid for president via Fox and the blogosphere. This guy has a platform already. But who ever believes a platform?
Larry Summers, post-PC hero
: Harvard President Larry Summers is proving to be the hero of the post-PC era.
This week, he deftly, carefully, and even reluctantly asked whether all the anti-Israeli belching at Harvard and elsewhere in the academic left is a sign of a growing antisemitism.
But where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent....
And some here at Harvard and some at universities across the country have called for the University to single out Israel among all nations as the lone country where it is inappropriate for any part of the university’s endowment to be invested. I hasten to say the University has categorically rejected this suggestion....
I have always throughout my life been put off by those who heard the sound of breaking glass, in every insult or slight, and conjured up images of Hitler’s Kristallnacht at any disagreement with Israel. Such views have always seemed to me alarmist if not slightly hysterical. But I have to say that while they still seem to me unwarranted, they seem rather less alarmist in the world of today than they did a year ago.
I would like nothing more than to be wrong. It is my greatest hope and prayer that the idea of a rise of anti-Semitism proves to be a self-denying prophecy -- a prediction that carries the seeds of its own falsification. But this depends on all of us.
Says Glenn
Reynolds: "Harvard is lucky to have Larry Summers as its President at this important moment in its history. He may yet save its soul from the corrosive forces of hatred and irrationalism, despite the best efforts of some of its students and faculty."
I will take it a step further: This is the same man who was unafraid to spar with Cornel West over the quality of his scholarship, unafraid to say that criticism of a black man is not racist if it is academically honest and reasoned and not ill-willed; it is merely criticism.
Now he says that criticism of Israel can be antisemitic if it is shrill and tyrannical and ill-willed.
In each case, Summers has the courage to question PC orthodoxy, to put himself in the line of PC fire, to pit reason against mob emotion.
Some months back, I noted, hopefully, the
end of the PC era. We're ready for it to end, to call bull bull and bullies bullies. But this new post-PC era needs a spokesman, a leader.
That is Larry Summers.
Hello Mullah, Hello Fatwa
: Stephen Green has an f'ing brilliant fireside song for the upstate New York terrorist campers:
Hello Mullah, hello Fatwa
Here I am at Camp al-Qaeda
Camp is very entertaining
But when I'm home I'll have to do some 'splaining
I went hiking with bin Laden,
He has got this kidney problem
You remember that guy Omar?
He got hit last night by some Air Force bomber....
Here comes the bandwagon: I get more support for my candidacy (below):
Jeff: I never even heard of you before, and I think you're the best candidate for President (of whatever). Not telling your qualifications or policy positions is a giant plus in my book, because now you won't have to repudiate any of them after the election, plus, you can't be accused of waffling or flip-flopping.
You have my unswerving support in your run.
Dave Ivers
P.S. I teach American Government (among other things) at Eastern Michigan University
I wish my professors had been so sensible.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull goy
: The maker of the Christian veggie movies explains to Beliefnet why us goys are unfunny:
For some reason, certain cultures seem to be funnier than others. Many of our funniest writers and performers come from the Jewish culture. The African-American culture also produces wildly funny people. White, middle-class Christian America doesn't. Canada manages to turn out some insanely funny white people, but we're not sure how they do it. We middle-American Christians tend to be insurance salesman and administrators. Very nice people, but not very funny people.
: But at least we have more fun than Muslims, according to
this.
: But, of course,
PETA freaks have even a less of a sense of humor than Christians or Muslims.
: You see, the truth is, I should be Jewish. I look Jewish. I love Yiddish. I think Jewish. I hope I'm funny (or at least funnier than your average Congregationalist). And I think
Jewsweek is one of the best sites on the Internet.
The Friendship Calculator
: Matthew Yglesias gives a name to my friendship calculations, below, and also offers some good suggestions (while also making me feel like an old fart, which is very easy for him to do, that whippersnapper):
Jeff Jarvis' friendship calculator is a fun exercize, but I think I'm noticing a generation gap in his scoring system. Jarvis says you give two points to a person if you have them on your IM buddy list, but only one if you have their home phone number. Speaking for myself and — I think — most of my friends, this is backwards. I've got a giant IM list including most of the Independent's editor's, Chuck Schumer's entire staff (well, everyone who was on his staff 18 months ago), folks from high school I haven't spoken to in hears, an ex-girlfriend, etc. By contrast I've only got the home telephone numbers written down (well, stored in my cell phone) of about a dozen people — that's less than my Chinese takeout master list! Maybe this is just a special circumstance of being at college where you can look up everyone's phone number with a simple UNIX command, but then again maybe I'll be like this forever. One way or another, IM is definitely primary, low-commitment, low-hassle — the telephone spells friendship gold.
The HBO way: More on why HBO is so good (see my earlier post below).
Ev summarizes a key point from a Fast Company story:
It illustrates the advantages media companies who's customers are their audience, instead of advertisers, have in creating good stuff—and, therefore, getting the audience that everyone craves in the first place. A quote: "When it comes to creating hits, there's TV -- and then there's HBO. The difference is that the last thing HBO programmers think about is making a hit. At the networks, it's the first thing (and, some might argue, the only thing )."
And the man in charge of original programming at HBO
explains:
That sensibility boils down to one principle, says Albrecht: "Ultimately, is it about something? By 'about something,' I mean not just about the subject, or the arena, or the location, but really about something that is deeply relevant to the human experience. Sopranos isn't about a Mob boss on Prozac. It's about a man searching for the meaning of his life. Six Feet Under isn't about a family of undertakers so much as it's about a group of people who have to deal with their feelings about death in order to get on with their own lives. The next question is, Is it the very best realization of that idea? Is it true to itself?"
In short, it is art. But it also sells.
Guvment
: Ken Layne has the kinds of tales of Government Time-Wasters and Random Idiocy that turn less-sensible people into libertarians.
Heading for a blog primary
: I have new competition in my bid for president via Fox and the blogosphere. This guy has a platform already. But who ever believes a platform?
Larry Summers, post-PC hero
: Harvard President Larry Summers is proving to be the hero of the post-PC era.
This week, he deftly, carefully, and even reluctantly asked whether all the anti-Israeli belching at Harvard and elsewhere in the academic left is a sign of a growing antisemitism.
But where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent....
And some here at Harvard and some at universities across the country have called for the University to single out Israel among all nations as the lone country where it is inappropriate for any part of the university’s endowment to be invested. I hasten to say the University has categorically rejected this suggestion....
I have always throughout my life been put off by those who heard the sound of breaking glass, in every insult or slight, and conjured up images of Hitler’s Kristallnacht at any disagreement with Israel. Such views have always seemed to me alarmist if not slightly hysterical. But I have to say that while they still seem to me unwarranted, they seem rather less alarmist in the world of today than they did a year ago.
I would like nothing more than to be wrong. It is my greatest hope and prayer that the idea of a rise of anti-Semitism proves to be a self-denying prophecy -- a prediction that carries the seeds of its own falsification. But this depends on all of us.
Says Glenn
Reynolds: "Harvard is lucky to have Larry Summers as its President at this important moment in its history. He may yet save its soul from the corrosive forces of hatred and irrationalism, despite the best efforts of some of its students and faculty."
I will take it a step further: This is the same man who was unafraid to spar with Cornel West over the quality of his scholarship, unafraid to say that criticism of a black man is not racist if it is academically honest and reasoned and not ill-willed; it is merely criticism.
Now he says that criticism of Israel can be antisemitic if it is shrill and tyrannical and ill-willed.
In each case, Summers has the courage to question PC orthodoxy, to put himself in the line of PC fire, to pit reason against mob emotion.
Some months back, I noted, hopefully, the
end of the PC era. We're ready for it to end, to call bull bull and bullies bullies. But this new post-PC era needs a spokesman, a leader.
That is Larry Summers.
Hello Mullah, Hello Fatwa
: Stephen Green has an f'ing brilliant fireside song for the upstate New York terrorist campers:
Hello Mullah, hello Fatwa
Here I am at Camp al-Qaeda
Camp is very entertaining
But when I'm home I'll have to do some 'splaining
I went hiking with bin Laden,
He has got this kidney problem
You remember that guy Omar?
He got hit last night by some Air Force bomber....
Here comes the bandwagon: I get more support for my candidacy (below):
Jeff: I never even heard of you before, and I think you're the best candidate for President (of whatever). Not telling your qualifications or policy positions is a giant plus in my book, because now you won't have to repudiate any of them after the election, plus, you can't be accused of waffling or flip-flopping.
You have my unswerving support in your run.
Dave Ivers
P.S. I teach American Government (among other things) at Eastern Michigan University
I wish my professors had been so sensible.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull goy
: The maker of the Christian veggie movies explains to Beliefnet why us goys are unfunny:
For some reason, certain cultures seem to be funnier than others. Many of our funniest writers and performers come from the Jewish culture. The African-American culture also produces wildly funny people. White, middle-class Christian America doesn't. Canada manages to turn out some insanely funny white people, but we're not sure how they do it. We middle-American Christians tend to be insurance salesman and administrators. Very nice people, but not very funny people.
: But at least we have more fun than Muslims, according to
this.
: But, of course,
PETA freaks have even a less of a sense of humor than Christians or Muslims.
: You see, the truth is, I should be Jewish. I look Jewish. I love Yiddish. I think Jewish. I hope I'm funny (or at least funnier than your average Congregationalist). And I think
Jewsweek is one of the best sites on the Internet.
The Friendship Calculator
: Matthew Yglesias gives a name to my friendship calculations, below, and also offers some good suggestions (while also making me feel like an old fart, which is very easy for him to do, that whippersnapper):
Jeff Jarvis' friendship calculator is a fun exercize, but I think I'm noticing a generation gap in his scoring system. Jarvis says you give two points to a person if you have them on your IM buddy list, but only one if you have their home phone number. Speaking for myself and — I think — most of my friends, this is backwards. I've got a giant IM list including most of the Independent's editor's, Chuck Schumer's entire staff (well, everyone who was on his staff 18 months ago), folks from high school I haven't spoken to in hears, an ex-girlfriend, etc. By contrast I've only got the home telephone numbers written down (well, stored in my cell phone) of about a dozen people — that's less than my Chinese takeout master list! Maybe this is just a special circumstance of being at college where you can look up everyone's phone number with a simple UNIX command, but then again maybe I'll be like this forever. One way or another, IM is definitely primary, low-commitment, low-hassle — the telephone spells friendship gold.
The HBO way: More on why HBO is so good (see my earlier post below).
Ev summarizes a key point from a Fast Company story:
It illustrates the advantages media companies who's customers are their audience, instead of advertisers, have in creating good stuff—and, therefore, getting the audience that everyone craves in the first place. A quote: "When it comes to creating hits, there's TV -- and then there's HBO. The difference is that the last thing HBO programmers think about is making a hit. At the networks, it's the first thing (and, some might argue, the only thing )."
And the man in charge of original programming at HBO
explains:
That sensibility boils down to one principle, says Albrecht: "Ultimately, is it about something? By 'about something,' I mean not just about the subject, or the arena, or the location, but really about something that is deeply relevant to the human experience. Sopranos isn't about a Mob boss on Prozac. It's about a man searching for the meaning of his life. Six Feet Under isn't about a family of undertakers so much as it's about a group of people who have to deal with their feelings about death in order to get on with their own lives. The next question is, Is it the very best realization of that idea? Is it true to itself?"
In short, it is art. But it also sells.
Guvment
: Ken Layne has the kinds of tales of Government Time-Wasters and Random Idiocy that turn less-sensible people into libertarians.
...
